The removal of the streetcars seemed inevitable to the BCER Company. In 1944, determined not to waste light rail on a place as small as Victoria, the company came out with their 10-year post-war development plan, which earmarked the destruction of Greater Victoria’s tram system. The last day of service was the 3rd of July, 1948. Bizarrely, this occurred after 1945’s all-time-peak in ridership, having reached 144,376,774 passengers in a year (albeit counting servicemen). The tracks’ fate had been decided back in 1938, and it seems the war had prolonged what the company considered an inevitable removal, despite the figures of 1945.
In 1947, the Great Victoria Transportation Committee, in light of the pending expiry of the BCER franchise, published the following in a local paper: “The old street cars are to be removed once and for all. This is the requirement of the new Franchise agreement. Vote ‘Yes’.” On June 19th, 1947, Oak Bay, Esquimalt, Victoria, and Saanich residents did vote “yes”.
The closures began on June 30th, 1947. It was the last day for Gorge and Head street lines, and for the all the lines west of Bay and Government, and the tracks on Bay from Government to Douglas. The outer seven tenths of the Uplands line were abandoned.
The first day of deconstruction was October 9th, 1947. The Gorge line’s Henry street tracks between Esquimalt Road and Catherine Street were the test-case in the costs of removal.
At midnight on May 15th, 1948, the last Fernwood and Oak Bay trams ran their final route.
The last day of service occurred on Saturday July 3rd, 1948. Fifty-eight years of service came to a close. The last lines to be shut off were the Outer Wharf and Beacon Hill lines.
On May 17th, 1948, two days after the last day of service, a ceremonial “The Last Trip of Victoria’s Last Street Car” was held. The “mourners” were bussed to Niagara and Douglas streets, the Beacon Hill street car’s terminus. A streetcar awaited them which led them for the last time along Niagara, Menzies, Superior, and Government streets, and past the Empress Hotel and the Parliament buildings. The car then went for “internment” at the car-barn.